Dear Parents and Carers
I hope this letter finds you and your family well after the beautiful weather this weekend.
Return to school
Following the Welsh Government review of lockdown arrangements, we can now begin to look forward to welcoming pupils back to school site. The Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, has stated that, if conditions surrounding Covid-19 continue to improve, Years 11 and 13 will begin to return to school from Monday 15 March.
We do not, as yet, know the terms of this return for Years 11 and 13 e.g. will there a limit on numbers on site and in classrooms? The Minister has announced that it will be a blended learning approach, with Years 11 and 13 working at home for some of the time as well as attending the school site for some of their learning. We hope to have the Welsh Government guidance document this week to plan, implement and update our risk assessment. I will of course update you regarding our plan for return following the receipt of this guidance.
The Education Minister also made reference to the return of Years 10 and 12. We are awaiting further detail about this. We understand that Years 7-9 will not return to school sites until Monday 12 April 2021 at the earliest, following Easter. Please be assured that our lessons and wellbeing support will continue throughout this coming half term for every pupil, with regular wellbeing phone calls with pastoral staff, and learning through synchronous and asynchronous lessons with their teachers as per their timetable.
Year 9 and Year 11 Options / Transition
You will have received information from Mr Sass, Assistant Headteacher, about the options process for Years 9 and 11 in readiness for their transition into KS4 and KS5 this September. Further information is on the school website under the Y9/Y11 Transition tab, and will be updated regularly e.g. the first round of options will be shared with pupils this week.
GCSE, AS and A level summer 2021
We are expecting further announcements about GCSE, AS and A level arrangements for summer 2021 from WJEC and Qualifications Wales during this half term. In the meantime, I will be holding a series of live assemblies this week after school with Years 11-13 on Tuesday and Wednesday about the arrangements that are known so far. Email invites will be sent to pupils via their school email accounts with the date and time for their year group assembly. You may also wish to look through the information released on the WJEC public website: https://www.wjec.co.uk/articles/summer-2021-materials-to-support-centre-determined-grades-now-available/
Parents Evenings
Over the coming weeks, there will be parents’ evenings for Y11, Y12 and Y13, with the first this week:
Thursday 4 March 2021 – Year 13
Tuesday 9 March 2021 – Year 12
Wednesday 17 March 2021 – Year 11
Y13 parents should have received information about how to book appointments with teachers via School Cloud, and information is also on our school website under the parents evening guidance tab. We will hold parents evenings for Y7-Y10 in the summer term.
INSET Day – Friday 12 March 2021
Please note that Friday 12 March 2021 will be an INSET day for staff training. No lessons will be delivered on this day.
School Hubs are not expected to operate on INSET days. However, if this will cause a particular childcare difficulty for any keyworker parent whose child is in Y7-Y9 and attends the Hub on a Friday, please contact Mr Dickinson (Assistant Headteacher - KS3) via the school email account stcca@caerphilly.gov.uk and we will do all that we can to accommodate.
Positive test results
Thank you for continuing to inform us of positive tests for Covid 19. If your child receives a positive test for Covid-19 during this period of lockdown, please continue to let us know by emailing the school account stcca@caerphilly.gov.uk.
Eisteddfod
We have a number of Eisteddfod competitions and events taking place to mark St Davids Day organised by Mrs G Evans, her Welsh department colleagues and including competitions across numerous KS3 subjects. I very much look forward to viewing the entries and celebrating the success of our pupils as we celebrate Welsh culture, language and tradition.
The new half term has started well and I continue to be impressed by the engagement and effort of so many of our pupils. Teaching and support staff continue to work hard to ensure that all pupils have access to wellbeing support and the full range of their subject lessons.
Thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely
Miss Collins
